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A NOTE FROM JESS AND CARRIE
A NOTE FROM JESS AND CARRIE
The New Amsterdam study is an exploration of multiple perspectives and multiple identities as they come together on a small island (Mannahatta) during a short window of time (1609 to 1664). Usually the BNS New Amsterdam study is hands-on and full of field trips. This year has been very different, so the children relied on videos, Zoom discussions, read alouds, and texts to create their mental image of New Amsterdam. This was no easy task and they tackled it with their customary enthusiasm and good cheer. We are so proud of them!
The New Amsterdam study came after the Eastern Woodland study which comprised the first half of the school year. After looking closely at the first peoples of our area, we started to study the conflicts that arose as Dutch settlers and other Europeans came to this area. We focused most of our time on the period after New Amsterdam became a bustling trading port. From 1626 to 1664, New Amsterdam was inhabited by a mix of Dutch settlers, enslaved and free Africans, Jewish refugees, and Quakers (with the Lenape and other Native peoples continuing to live close by).
The New Amsterdam Portfolio
The New Amsterdam Portfolio
The New Amsterdam Portfolio was a project created to bring together each student's learning during this first-ever Remote New Amsterdam study.
The Portfolio includes:
A 3-D New Amsterdam build made out of whatever materials were on hand.
A historical fiction character created based on imagination and research.
Excerpts from the character's journal.
Illustrations of the character and their home.
The character's personalized map of New Amsterdam.
New Amsterdam Timeline
New Amsterdam Timeline
10,000 BCE - 1609 CE Native peoples inhabit the area continuously, developing their cultures in close connection to the land, plants, and animals
1609 CE Henry Hudson sails up the Mahickantuck River, "discovering" a plentiful supply of beavers as well as Native people willing to trade with him.
1621 CE The Dutch West India Company begins setting up colonies on Turtle Island (also known as North America).
1626 CE The first indentured servants and enslaved Africans arrive in New Amsterdam.
1644 CE Half-freedom is introduced in New Amsterdam. After some enslaved people petition for their freedom, The Dutch West India Company releases a group of individuals "for the hard work they have done in the colony of New Amsterdam."
1654 CE The first Jews arrive in New Amsterdam after feeling Recife, Brazil.
1655 CE The Quakers arrive after fleeing Massachusetts, where they had run into trouble with the Puritans.
1656 CE The Flushing Remonstrance, which protests the poor treatment of Quakers and Jews by Peter Stuyvesant, is written.
1664 CE The English take over New Amsterdam, renaming it New York.
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